The Pursuit of Power

Europe 1815-1914

De: Richard J Evans

Narrado por: Napoleon Ryan

The Pursuit of Power draws on a lifetime of thinking about 19th-century Europe to create an extraordinarily rich, surprising and entertaining panorama of a continent undergoing drastic change.

The aim of this audiobook is to reignite the sense of wonder that permeated this remarkable era, as rulers and ruled navigated overwhelming cultural, political and technological changes. It was a time where what was seen as modern with amazing speed appeared old-fashioned, where huge cities sprang up in a generation, where new European countries were created and where, for the first time, humans could communicate almost instantly over thousands of miles.

Richard Evans gives full coverage to the revolutions, empire building and wars that marked the 19th century, but the book is about so much more, whether it is illness, serfdom, religion or philosophy. The Pursuit of Power is an audiobook by a historian at the height of his powers and an essential audiobook for anyone trying to understand Europe, then or now.

©2016 Richard J Evans (P)2016 Audible, Ltd

A great book.

This was a very fine book that learned me so much about a time that influenced us still so much, the struggle for universal voting rights, Metternich, Bismarck... I know so much more now! pleasant and good voice.

Absolutely, Prudencio! A History Book That Breathes, Speaks, and Sometimes Sneers

I’ve been a historian long enough to know when I’m reading a textbook, and when I’m reading real history. Richard J. Evans’s The Pursuit of Power is the latter—a sweeping, lucid, and utterly compelling account of Europe between 1815 and 1914 that deserves a place next to the very best works of narrative history.

If you’ve read Will Durant for prose and ambition, or Eric Hobsbawm for structure and scope, this sits somewhere between them—but cleaner, more balanced, and (crucially) less tendentious. Evans avoids the ideological trapdoors that so many fall into. Progressive though he may be in the academy, you wouldn’t know it from the writing. He lets the actors speak for themselves—often literally.

The use of quotations is among the finest I’ve ever encountered. One moment in particular still echoes: when Tsar Nicholas II granted religious freedom during the 1905 revolution, the Orthodox Church’s top official Pobedonostsev wailed that “everyone, secular and clerical, has gone out of his mind.” That’s not just a quote—that’s the sound of a world cracking open. Evans doesn’t interpret the moment to death. He just lets it hang—and it lands.

The chapters are tightly organized, the themes clearly drawn, and the range immense—from industrial workshops to imperial battlefields, from bourgeois parlors to barricades in the streets. And somehow, Evans never loses control of the tone. This isn’t dry recounting; it’s a masterclass in how to write history that lives without sacrificing rigor.

If you want 400 pages of source criticism and methodological scaffolding, look elsewhere. But if you want a deeply informed, richly textured account of 19th-century Europe that wears its learning lightly and leaves you smarter, go no further.

Evans doesn’t just pursue power—he shows how it was lived

BISMARCK BISMARCK BISMARCK

This is a great book, and as always the author knows how to tell his story in an engaging and comprehensive way. The narrator needs to take some training though. Pauses after every six or seven words, overly dramatic quotes, and worst of all the way he shouts out BISMARCK every other sentence really ruin the enjoyment of this otherwise great book.